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From the Woodbury-Middlebury Patch and Robin Lucas:
In cooperation with Pomperaug Heath District’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit, a team of AmeriCorps volunteers will dedicate two weeks of their summer to helping Woodbury and Southbury with public health programming; trail remediation; and community garden beautification.
AmeriCorps (sometimes referred to as the “domestic Peace Corps”) will be stationed here from July 30 through August 10, through a grant-funded initiative with AmeriCorps’ parent agency: the National Civilian Community Corps. Pomperaug Health District MRC and the Torrington Area Health District MRC, are sharing the AmeriCorps volunteers during this deployment. The team is currently completing a series of tasks in the Torrington area, centered around youth and preparedness education. Prior to that, the 10-person-team had assisted Habitat for Humanity in Camden, NJ.
Under the direction of Pomperaug Health District, AmeriCorps will partner with the Southbury Land Trust and the Southbury Conservation Commission for trail cleanup and site beautification in the coming weeks. Also on the AmeriCorps task list is spending a day at Southbury’s Community Garden at Settlers Park. The garden was created this year through the CT State Department of Public Health and the Connecticut Cancer Partnership’s ACHIEVE grant, administrated by the Pomperaug Health District.
The AmeriCorps team will also take to the streets of Woodbury in order to gather data and complete real-time surveys using IPads at various, high-foot-traffic locations. The data will help drive upcoming public health and emergency preparedness programming efforts.
Woodbury residents are urged to participate in the survey when approached by an AmeriCorps volunteer; input gathered from a random sampling of area residents will be especially useful in helping to make Woodbury and Southbury healthier, more prepared communities. All AmeriCorps volunteers undergo extensive background checks prior to deployment. These young men and women, who range in age between 18 and 24, hail from various parts of our nation and represent a broad spectrum of demographics. All volunteers serving on behalf of the Pomperaug Health District MRC/AmeriCorps will be identifiable by identification badges and/or branded AmeriCorps apparel. For more information regarding the AmeriCorps team or the Medical Reserve Corps, please call Pomperaug Health District Director of Health Neal Lustig or MRC Unit Leader Robin Lucas at (203) 264-9616.
